Hidden Pioneers

 From Steve ……….

 I suppose the story of the MP4/4 began with John Barnard’s departure for Ferrari .

 Rumours about his future had been circulating and I became aware that something was happening with a casual remark from the night watchman at McLaren who said that we must be incredibly busy as our Technical Director was at the factory in the middle of the night printing numerous McLaren drawings! When I was the technical chief at Ferrari several years later, I saw some of those same  McLaren drawings in his former Ferrari facility in Guildford.

When I told Ron Dennis that John was copying the drawings and must be planning on leaving his reaction was a combination of extreme anger and disappointment.  He said he felt like he had put John on a pedestal and John had stood on the pedestal and pissed on him. This was followed by mild panic as to how we would manage without him.

I explained that in reality John didn’t do everything himself, that there was a team in place, that under his direction all the required functions were already performed by members of the design team and that in his absence this thoroughly competent design team would be more than capable of filling the void. Having calmed down a bit, Ron let John go (loud ructions from upstairs!) and let us get on with the job, which was to focus on the car for next season, the MP4/3.